I do not own anything.
'thought'
"Speech"
"Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
System Text
The blonde man struts forwards with all the assorted swagger of a prized rooster.
He flops down on the couch across from me.
"Riser." Rias glares.
"It is good to see you, my darling Rias." The man smirks.
"I can't say the same about you." She scoffs.
"Come now... is that any way to speak to your fiancé?"
"I'm not." Comes Rias reply. "I'm speaking to my soon to be ex-fiancé."
"Rias. You are disgracing your entire family with these childish actions." Riser begins. "You are the heiress of the illustrious Gremory family. You should begin to act like it."
"Hm. I suppose you would know something about disgracing." Rias shrugs. "Though, I suppose you do have a point. As the heiress of Gremory, I would have a lot more eyes on me than some third son nobody."
Ohoho.
Damn. Maybe our genuinely brutal ribbing, banter and verbal jabbing over games has changed her...
Riser's eyebrow twitches slightly.
"Why don't you let it go, Riser. I have no intention of marrying you." The red haired girl scoffs.
"My darling Rias." The man seethes. "Riser believe that your family's circumstances is such that you cannot afford to be selfish."
"You-"
"Are you insulting the entirety of the Gremory family as of this moment?" I ask suddenly, the corners of my mouth turning upwards. "Because it sounds to me that you have no respect for the clan you wish to marry the daughter of. To me it sounds as if you are saying that the Gremory
family is beneath you. That the entire family needs this marriage to go through?"
"Speak when spoken to, pawn." The blonde man glares. "You have no right to speak on the terms of your betters."
"No. He is my pawn and I have given him his freedom to speak whenever he wishes. He brings up a good point, though. Riser. Are you insulting the Gremory name? Insinuating that we need the Phenex clan's wealth?"
Rias rises from her seat behind the desk. She slowly walks forwards, eventually sitting to my right.
"Rias, Riser would never do such a thing." He replies a smarmy smile on his face as he places his hand on his chest.
"For the last time, Riser... I. Will. Not. Marry. You." Rias glares.
"For the final time, Rias. Riser bears the reputation of the house of Phenex. Besmirching our good name is unacceptable."
"You talk mad shit for a guy who refers to himself in the third person twenty-four seven." I deadpan.
"Riser doesn't care if he has to incinerate everyone in this room. You will return to the underworld with me."
"There will be no need of incineration." Grayfia begins with a frown. "I was sent here by the orders of Sirzechs to mediate the dispute between the house of Gremory and the house of Phenex. There will be no disruption of the peace this day."
"Well... when told something so ominous by the one who is known as the ultimate queen, even riser can become some what fearful..."
"You look like you're middle aged when you're barely into your twenties." I deadpan suddenly.
I can feel the white haired woman's gaze upon me, a pressure descends. "My master predicted that there would be a conflict of some sort. As such, he has assigned me a last resort should communication break down."
"The rating game clause?" Rias asks knowingly.
"To those who might not know..." The woman begins, eyes straying towards me. "A rating game is a competition between two noble devils-"
"I've been friends with Rias for over three years at this point. I know what a rating game is. Don't patronize me."
"..."
"I see."
"Hmph." The blonde man huffs. "Riser has played through numerous rating games and has scored numerous victories for himself. You expect me to face my inexperienced bride when she hasn't even qualified for an official game?"
"Rias... Riser must ask, is this adorable group the extent of your servants?" Riser questions.
"And what if it is?" The girl questions.
"Two filthy fallen, a youkai and two pathetic humans? Heh. This will be easier than I thought."
"I have said literally nothing this entire time and I'm still catching stray bullets." Mittelt rolls her eyes.
He snaps his fingers creating a massive glowing orange circle on the ground.
A plume of fire explodes upwards as numerous figures appear.
"Riser has fifteen pieces... In other words... I have a complete set."
"So Rias went for quality while you went out to grab every four and five out of ten you could find."
"E-Excuse you?!" One of the girls shriek.
"Eh, the cat girls are maybe a six out of ten... blonde girl is maybe a seven, but I'm just in general having a hard time looking at her because the pink just really isn't that easy on the eyes. But yes, four is pretty generous for the rest of you." I look to the two green haired girls. "Honestly you two don't even rank. How old are you, seven, eight maybe? Cradle robbing, are we, Riser? I've heard that you were a total degenerate, but isn't that a little low even for you?"
One of the maids lets out an irritated shout. "Like you're any better, I mean, really orange highlights?! White hair. Did you dye it yourself?!"
"Actually no. I've always been like this."
I pull out my phone projecting a cropped image of myself as a child. "Unlike you, I don't need makeup or a slutty outfit to look presentable."
"Riser knows you are just saying these things because you are jealous." The man seethes.
"Sure buddy." I roll my eye.
"Yubelluna." He calls out causing a woman with purple hair to slowly walk forwards, leaning over the back of the couch.
"Yes, my lord."
Riser takes her lips with his own, a deep and passionate kiss being shared between the two.
I look to my left, gazing towards Mittelt who looks over to me with a half-lidded expression, her eyebrow raises.
She seems vaguely disappointed as I gesture over my shoulder with my thumb towards Riser. "Get a load of this fucking loser."
She lets out a quiet snort.
"Know your place when speaking to me, filth. A filthy reincarnated devil like you should hold their tongue."
I look to Rias. "This guy doesn't know I'm only a reincarnated human until it inconveniences me."
The corners of her mouth turn upwards slightly.
Her eyes flick from Riser- who is still holding the chin of purple haired wench- back to face.
She grabs my chin, turning my head slightly, then Rias takes my lips with her own.
Instantly the temperature spikes as Rias pulls back, a small string of saliva between us. "Hm... Chocolate?"
"I- uh- had mini M&Ms like... just before coming over." I admit. "The- the shells on the large ones just get stuck in my teeth and tear up the roof of my mouth."
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Riser seethes.
"Oh?" Rias questions, tilting her head innocently, a devious smile on her face. "What is the big deal? You can lock lips with your queen there. If we were meant to only share our lips with each other as per the contract... you just broke said contract and my kiss was merely celebration of this fact?"
I quickly recover from my stunned silence. "Or could it be that you expected that the heiress of Gremory, a duke house, should be enslaved to you via contract the third son a mere Marquis?"
"By all means, fire chicken. Rias is wearing the pants in this relationship. She should be able to tell you to jump and all you can do is ask 'how high?'." I glare. "It's honestly a little pathetic that you don't know your place. She is the only daughter of the Gremory family... you are the second spare. Not even someone who might possibly be important like the second in line... no, you're the fucking backup backup."
Grayfia finally recovers. "Do both parties agree to the action of a rating game?"
"I am just a little confused on Risers whole goal here." Rias begins quietly. "I'm told I could postpone this to whenever I wanted... but the time is moved up until the end of my college education. I came to accept that time frame, but I was pressured to move it up again. I reluctantly agreed to my family's wishes. Yet here this little filthy cockroach is again, whining away to try and make it even sooner."
"He's terrified?" I agree as Rias stands, energy surging around her. "I have been kind, Riser. I have agreed. But you think you can come into MY town like you own the place. You spy on me and are unsatisfied despite Every. Little. Victory. I HAVE GIVEN YOU. You must truly think lowly of the Gremory family to think that YOU could pressure us?!"
"Two. Months." She growls out. "I will be given two months to train up my peerage to match your own."
"That is too much-" Riser cuts in.
"Is it? Is it really?" Rias asks. "You said it yourself, Riser. I am inexperienced. I lack a full fifteen pieces... Hell, I am not permitted to use my debatably strongest piece, my mutated bishop."
Eh. I'll give Gasper that. Not really many ways for me to counter Time Stop at the moment.
"I also lack a second bishop, and a second rook. Two vital pieces that can change the entire outcome of the rating game... unless you are suggesting that I can get my pathetic peerage up to the level of the oh so great invincible Riser Phenex in just two short months?" Rias mocks.
"He'd sort of be a fraud if that were the case." I admit.
"That is-"
"Know your place, Pawn of Gremory." One of Riser's knights seethe. "Riser is greater than you will ever be."
"Heh. Sure." I huff.
"The original time to train designated was ten days..." Grayfia admits. "However... Rias is correct in that she has been quite mature about this change in deadline this time."
This time.
"I believe that the time to train should more closely reflect the time she was given not even a week ago. which would be the end of this human school year. so two months is incredibly reasonable and even shorter than the time she was originally given such a short period of time ago."
"Ten days to sixty is still far to much."
"What about thirty, but with the caveat that if Riser tries to spy or get any form of information on us during that one-month period he automatically forfeits? Does that sound fair to everyone?" I suggest. "I mean, really. Bullying a devil several years younger than you are... who has had zero opportunity to grow, with a peerage that has freely participated in numerous rating games. I've only been reincarnated for a month, and Mittelt here for just a mere week. We've had no time to get true combat experience. Or, in my case, any at all."
Rias' eyes stray to me. "I am fine with those conditions."
"And you, Riser Phenex?" The white-haired woman questions.
"Hmph. It's not like two months would have been enough time. Thirty days will be nothing to the might of my peerage." Riser huffs arrogantly.
"So. You agree to the no intel clause?" Grayfia questions.
"Whatever. Riser does care what Rias does with her weak peerage. It means nothing to me." He huffs.
He risers to his feet.
Heh.
Strutting to his peerage like the flaming chicken he is, he gazes back over all of us. "Riser looks forwards to tearing apart whatever paltry defense you can muster."
With a puff of fire...
He is gone.
*Snrk-* Rias snorts.
*Pfft-* I chuckle.
We both begin cackling much to the confusion of pretty much everyone but Mittelt, who only stares on with a half-lidded expression, a smirk on her lips.
"Ah... he has no idea what's about to happen to him." I sigh.
"So, when are you going to do the thing?" Rias questions.
"Eh. I was thinking about-"
"Rias..." Grayfia begins. "I had hoped you would take this seriously. But you allow your peerage to mouth off at their own convenience. Continually winding up the situation and preventing an amicable resolution."
"Grayfia." Rias glares suddenly as she stands, slowly walking forwards, head held high. "Do not speak badly of my peerage."
"Do you know why they can speak freely? It is because I. Want. Them. To." Rias frowns. "I have no place for yes men and sycophants. My peerage are my friends. My family. It would do you well to remember that... it may be out of line speaking to the queen of Satan Lucifer in such a way. However... you have no place to critique how my peerage functions."
"You would bring shame to the Gremory name by stooping to Riser's level-"
"Grayfia... after I utterly annihilate Riser using the time given to train..." She suddenly points to me. "He's mine. I'm going to date and eventually marry him and there isn't a damned thing anyone in my family can do to stop me. Berate me if you want. Disown me if you wish. But when you realize how valuable of an uncut diamond he is, don't you dare come crawling back to me with halfhearted apologies and paltry compensations."
The woman slowly blinks down at Rias.
"Ver... just show her a little taste of your power... use it on me." Rias commands.
"Whatever, I was going to do this to all of the peerage eventually. Might as well do it to you now." I shrug as I stand up and walk over.
She is standing face to face with Grayfia, glaring up at her challengingly.
I place a hand atop her head, causing her to turn to me with a pout as the unruly strand of hair atop her head is flattened.
"Power up!"
White energy crackles around my body, rushing down my arm, then it passes through Rias' body, crackling over it like fire.
Rias doesn't break eye contact as I release her.
Grayfia's eyes are considerably widened, words of sheer bafflement slowly forming on her lips.
I stumble slightly, placing my hands on my knees. "Hoo fuck-"
Rias turns, quickly fawning over me. "Are you alright, Verrti?!"
"Doing that makes me tired... so I'm just gonna... go sit back down right now."
I make my way over to the couch and basically throw myself upon it, head flopping over the back of the seat as a long breath leaves my lips.
If you were to take a little look at her power, It's about a three-fold increase.
"As you can see, Grayfia. Uncut diamond. And you will give him the respect he deserves... Verrti give me a rundown if you would."
"Permanant power increase. for you it was about three fold, but for others it could be different. You should also see an explosive growth in any training results in the next couple of days as well, so you better get off your lazy ass and make the most of it... fucking shame I can't do it on myself. It either drains me more if the target is stronger than me, or it just makes me this exhausted every time I use it. I'm unsure."
Grayfia's mouth opens slowly, then closes.
"..."
"Yes... I... believe I might have been a bit hasty..." The woman whispers.
"Yes, you were." Rias smiles, only to blink, giving me a confused look.
"Oh. I left you a little gift as well. You're welcome."
She takes a small step back from Grayfia, looking over her body.
"Times... two?"
A tremendous red aura explodes around her body, a near euphoric grin appears on her face. "Oh, Verrti you are so getting fucked after this rating game is over."
Her energy has increased by a further two-fold.
Grayfia just watches on in silent shock as the aura is erased.
Rias cringes slightly, body shaking. "ow ow ow... damn. This stings... but... if I can master this? Heh... heheheh... It is so over for Riser."
Mittelt pouts over at me. "Where's my gift?"
"Eh, most of what I have now is a little lame in comparison... I'll get you something. Don't worry."
I reach over and pat her head.
She grabs my wrist and slowly removes it, a small frown on her lips.
"Hmph." She harrumphs. "I knew you longer than Rias... you'd better."
"Tsudere."
"I'm not!"
"You are."
"Are not!"
"Totally are."
"I'll hit you!"
"No bullying Verrti. I'm really pleased with him right now." Rias cuts in, causing the blonde to pout.
"Hah. Mom says you can't bully me."
"I'll steal your virginity so 'mom' can't have it." The small girl threatens.
"You'd try. Then back out before you even got your panties off." I smirk, causing her eyebrow to twitch slightly.
"No. Bad Mittelt. His virginity is MINE to claim. He sold it to me for a legendary drop in industrial fantasy three!"
"Huh... I did." I blink slowly. "I'm... honestly a little surprised you even remember that."
"You're all perverts... and dead to me..." Koneko deadpans as Akeno continues to blush, letting out her quiet 'ufufufu' laugh as she covers her smile with a hand, likely enjoying seeing a rare side of Rias.
Kiba is exasperated.
"So... what's your plan, Verrti?" Rias asks. "How are you going to train?"
"Eh. I spent the past hour and a half writing a bunch of names on slips of paper, folding them and placing them in a box." I shrug as I gesture to a large closed cardboard box with a square hole cut out.
"I was planning on shaking it up then just picking whatever pops up to complete."
"No anime?" Mittelt, on my other side, questions.
"There's some." I admit.
"You'd better not watch dragon ball without me." Rias pouts.
"Same." Mittelt agrees.
"I'll be taking some time to unlock the potential of the peerage as well. Starting with you, Mittelt. Your light spears will come in really handy during the game."
"Hm. Alright." The blonde shrugs.
"After that... I'm unsure, honestly. I might try and get promoted to a high class devil and get my own set of Evil Pieces, but, like I'm generally just having such a hard time deciding on who to get."
"Am I on the list?" Mittelt asks.
"You're knight one. Rias... want to be the queen?"
She ponders for a moment, then shrugs. "You don't necessarily need to waste the piece on me. An Evil Piece on an actual devil really does nothing but allow them to participate in rating games on the king's team. They can be freely removed at any time so, I guess until you find a suitable reincarnatable queen."
I slowly lift the box, covering the hole with a hand, then I begin shaking it wildly, the paper inside rattling.
I eventually offer the box to Mittelt. "Both of you pick one. I'll see if I can complete them in thirty days."
Mittelt reaches inside and pulls out a slip of paper, unfolding it.
"Kill la Kill."
"Oooh. That's decent." I hum. "Lots of good potential peerage members there. Plus it's relatively short."
"What's Kill La Kill?" Rias questions.
"..."
"Ahhh... right. It doesn't come out until twenty thirteen." I mutter under my breath. "I'll save that for something we all watch together."
Mittelt puts the paper back in the box as I turn to Rias.
She reaches inside rummages her hand around briefly.
"Uncharted."
"Egh... a simple gun treasure hunting game won't necessarily help us much here."
I turn back to Mittelt.
"Borderlands?" She questions.
"Two thousand and nine... but it's multiplayer, so I'll save it for us to play at a later time."
I turn to Rias.
"Waiting in the summer?" She mutters.
"Ah. Pretty sure that's a romcom of some sort. Fuck." I turn back to Mittelt.
"Buddy... Daddies?"
"Ah. The story about two assassins taking care of a little girl. Once more. Not really helpful, sadly." I look back to Rias.
"Mieruko-chan?" She pulls another slip from the box.
"Eh... that's vaguely more supernatural... but not what we're looking for." I shrug as I look back to Mittelt.
" Hajime no Ippo?" She questions.
"Ooooh. I've heard of that." Rias hums. "Its about boxing, but I never got around to watching it..."
I look to Mittelt.
"Lego games?" She echoes what's written down on the paper.
"That's two-player." I point out. "Hrm... honestly, I might as well do those myself since there's three of us."
"Or Mittelt and I can switch out every couple of levels." Rias suggests.
"Alright... putting that on the 'after Riser is defeated' list." I mutter under my breath.
I let out a quiet sigh. "How about I just go with my original plan."
I point forwards and snap my fingers; an iconic theme plays in the background as Mittelt's gaze strays to the side of my head. "Are... are you being serious right now?"
"Yes." I grin, pausing the cartoon.
"..."
"It was either this or trying to get the Tri Force from Zelda... or, like... maybe a chaos emerald from sonic."
"Wait a minute!" I gasp. "Gnasty Gnork from Spyro can turn gems into enemies! The more gems and the more powerful gems being stronger enemies... what if I get that power THEN get a chaos emerald?!"
"Holy shit! How would Naruto Chakra effect our world's chakra. How does Ki influence our world's spiritual energy?! How would fairy tail magic work here?!"
"I honestly sort of thought that was where you were going with this." Mittelt mutters, causing Rias to nod along.
"You go on and on about how Juvia is a peak waifu- I can definitely see it- plus some Devil Slayer magic would be pretty useful right now. In particular the fire kind. Like, you're about to be fighting a guy made of fire. That'd be fucking hilarious if you punch him, he starts burning to heal then you eat him."
"Riser fried chicken." I hum with a small eye roll. "I'll see what I can do. Maybe I could watch all of fairy tail in the time I have left after this."
I gesture to the screen.
"You're... actually going through with it... huh... alright. I suppose this can simultaneously be a relatively mundane world and a world that allows you to pull the stars from the sky."
"As long as it's funny." I agree with a slow nod.
"But funny is subjective. How would that even fucking work?"
I shrug.
"Regardless... training time is burning, Mil!" I place a hand atop her head. "Power up!"
A surge of power surrounds her, she breathes heavily then- *Floomph*
Four wings surge from her back. Two black and feathered, two bat-like.
"..."
She looks over her shoulder. "Huh... four wings. That is... new..."
Rias looks to me. "Can't you just repeatedly use your potential unlock over and over again on us?"
"Technically, but you won't see any real improvements for it." I shake my head. "From what I can understand, Guru's potential unlock sort of is like... retroactive training."
"Retroactive training?" Mittelt echoes.
"It makes it so all the time you trained in the past is treated as if you had trained with the knowledge you have now. Say for instance you train five years with a technique that increases your power level by one point each day. Then you discover a new training method that improves it by ten per day, it would retroactively go back and unlock the 'potential' you didn't achieve during those days."
"So it re-writes time?" The blonde fallen blinks.
"Less re-writing time and more just flat out gifting you the power you didn't receive due to your inexperience." I shrug.
"That's bullshit. You're bullshit. What the fuck even is that?!" The blonde demands.
"It would have been even more bullshit had it been the Old Kai's dance instead."
*Pfft-* Rias snorts.
"And yes, I'd force you to wear a blindfold the entire six hours of dancing." I admit proudly. "Because damn that'd be mortifying."
"Now, both of you, go! I must continue my dark work!"
"..." Mittelt stares for a moment then asks a question that had apparently been on her mind for a while.
"If you watch a bunch of jerk off instruction videos, would you get points for merely watching through it, or would you need to like... follow the commands of the video?"
"Most of those require at the very least an Onahole and I don't own one so I'd be forced to use you. Now go! Become strong so you can protect me, my faithful minions!"
"Good luck, Ver." Rias waves. "I hope you have fun and that your gachas are rare."
"Believe me... me too." I sigh as my eyes are drawn back to the screen.
The door clicks shut as I resume the video.
"Nooooow... what would bugs bunny do?"
Weeee're back. Verrti is just vibing in general. Truly an ideal power. And just think of this! He can even watch banned episodes with no issue!
Plus, Rias managed to get an extra twenty days to train off her gambles.
Riser truly stands no chance, does he?